Petro price has surged by 150% by Maduro’s order

Last week saw Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro announcing that Petro, the country’s national cryptocurrency has been increased from 3 600 sovereign bolivars to 9 000.

On November 29, while speaking on the state television, Maduro announced the 150% price increase of the Petro.

“The price for the petro cryptocurrency will rise from 3,600 sovereign bolivars [Bs.s] to 9,000,” – Bloomberg wrote on the matter.

Back in August, Maduro linked the price of the Petro to the sovereign bolivar (bolivar soberano).

“You have just devalued the sovereign bolivar with respect to the petro and by more than 100%. Anchoring the bolivar to the petro is anchoring it to nothing,” – Venezuelan economist Leonardo Buniak explained.

“When the president decrees that a petro is worth 9,000 Bs.s, what he is saying is that the petro is not a cryptocurrency but a debt title that is predetermined, [which] cannot be mined. It is impossible to think that it is a cryptocurrency when its value is not given by the interaction between supply and demand,” – he added.

Despite the fact that Petro has entered the market over a month ago, there are still no compatible wallets available. The buyers have been receiving certificates of possession instead of the cryptocurrency proper so far.

Neither the Petro source code, nor the related transaction data are available to the public. Therefore, there is no possible ways to somehow independently confirm the cryptocurrency’s existence or functionality. The Venezuelan government’s own block explorer for the Petro currently shows a total of 3 138 blocks despite the Petro whitepaper’s description of one block per minute.